Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “From Academy Award-nominated screenwriter JOHN LOGAN (Gladiator, The Aviator, Hugo, Skyfall) and acclaimed, Tony Award-winning director MICHAEL GRANDAGE in his feature film debut, comes ‘Genius,’ a stirring drama about the complex friendship and transformative professional relationship between the world-renowned book editor Maxwell Perkins (who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway) and the larger-than-life literary giant Thomas Wolfe.
Based on the inspirational biography Max Perkins: Editor of Geniusby Pulitzer Prize winner A. SCOTT BERG, Genius stars COLIN FIRTH as Perkins, JUDE LAW as Wolfe, NICOLE KIDMAN as Aline Bernstein, a costume designer sharing a tumultuous relationship with Wolfe, Laura Linney as Louise Perkins, Max’s wife and a talented playwright, GUY PEARCE as F. Scott Fitzgerald and DOMINIC WEST as Ernest Hemingway.

Finding fame and critical success at a young age, Wolfe was a blazing talent with a larger-than-life personality to match. Perkins was one of the most respected and well-known literary editors of all time.”

Positive—I’ve wanted to see this true life story for some time now, and I wasn’t disappointed. The sepia tones set the scene nicely for NYC in the 1920s when authors are desperate to see their literary babies brought to life in a publisher’s hands, not least Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) and Ernest Hemingway. It’s a fascinating look inside the writer’s mind (Jude Law as Wolfe) and how the editing process (Colin Firth as Max Perkins) takes place.

The effect writing a book can have on loved ones, where obsession becomes the watchword, is powerfully portrayed and well acted.

Only one brief scene—is really unnecessary to the plot, insinuating that a steamy sexual act is about to take place, though you see next to nothing. Just as editors edit, so the director edits scenes and this one implied the writer is ecstatic about his new found success after many rejections, and he celebrates by drinking a lot and having sex with his long suffering mistress, Nicole Kidman.

There is a lot of smoking in the movie, but, like the acting, the script is strong, and the story is interesting and made me want to write something, though not 5,000 words a day with a pencil.My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5

…Made up largely of conversations—including way too many in which Perkins discusses ways for Wolfe to cut down his prose – the story indulges in long scenes focused on dialogue. When Grandage decides scenes are running on too long, he just changes the location, so exchanges jump from the office to stations, to trains and to the street, but the waffling continues. …